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Vygotskys
Sociocultural Theory
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Russian
Cultural mediation a crucial part of
childrens psychological development is
their growing into the culture to which they
belong
Who we are, what we do, how we think
and what we value largely depends on the
culture in which we are brought up
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Vygotskys
Sociocultural Theory Thinking as a product of social
interaction
children gain new information and learn howto think through interactions with adults and
more capable peers
emphasized importance of social activity internalization of knowledge: absorbs
knowledge from ones social context
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Zone of proximal development
(ZPD)
The distance between a learners ability to
solve a problem independently and the
learners potential level of comprehensionwhen given guidance or in collaboration
with more knowledgeable others.
Learning takes place when the child is
working her zone of proximal
development.
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Zone of Proximal Development
Lets say want a child wants to learn how to bakecookies
Independently, he is unable to figure out how to do thetask
He interacts with a more knowledgeable others such asthe parents and learn the basics of baking cookies
He can also interact with his teachers and peers, tomodify the ingredients
Through a series of social interactions the child has
learn to internalize concepts related to the basics ofbaking cookies and the basic procedure can bemodified with successful results
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Tasks within the zone of proximal
development are ones that a child cannotyet do alone but could do with the
assistance of more competent peers or
adults
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ZPD
It deals with the quality of child-adult interaction
good learning which refers to the distance
between what children can accomplish
independently and what they can achieve wheninteracting with more competent others
Cognitive tasks that a
child can accomplishindependently
ZPD Tasks that are
beyond a childs
cognitive capacity
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range of ability between the childs
developed, observable ability level, and full capacity for developing further
Vygotskys
Sociocultural Theory
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Scaffolding
a changing quality of support over a teaching
session, in which a more skilled partner adjusts
the assistance he or she provides to fit the
childs current level of performance. Moresupport is offered when a task is new; less is
provided as the childs competence increases,
therefore fostering the childs autonomy and
independent mastery(Berk & Winsler,1995, p.171)
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Scaffolding
Providing a child with a great deal of
support during early stages of learning
The teacher provides support during the
initial learning steps
This support becomes diminished in the
later stages of learning by having the child
take on more responsibility for learning
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This allows learners to accomplish tasks
that they normally would not be able toaccomplish on their own
Learner gain access to areas that they
could not do on their own Scaffolding provides structural support
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Once learners develop the necessary
skills, the teacher can gradually removethe scaffolding by adding more
complicated tasks.
The information is better integrated into
the learners knowledge
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increase in experience in child
--> decrease in assistance from adult
adult doing too little
child does not learn how to do a task
adult doing too much
--> child does not learn anything new
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adults provide the scaffolding forchildrens learning E.g.,
directing the childs attention
providing a model
offering suggestions Questions
Clues/Cues
Prompts
Task analysis Mastery learning
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Cues
- Signals as to what behaviour (s) will bereinforced
Prompt
- A verbal reminder that follows a cue to
make sure that the students reacts to the
cue
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Task analysis
- Breaking down and sequencing acomplex task into each component
- It requires analysis of both the process
and the end product- When teaching a complex skill, it
necessary to reinforce each step
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Learning occurs best when it comes from
self-initiated activity
There is a wide range of development
within a group of children. The teacherneed to plan learning experiences that the
level of development. Every child needs a
chance to work on his own
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Social interactions assists the child in
modifying his egocentric point of view.
Through interactions he/she finds that
everyone does not have the same opinionas he does to convince needs to find a
logical and clear argument
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Support that helps a learner become
more successful
Learning involves the acquisition of signs
by means of instruction and informationfrom others
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Cognitive development is strongly linked
to input from others
Self-regulation the ability to think and
solve problems without the help ofothers
Private speechchildrens talk whichguides their thinking and actions
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Socialcultural perspective understand
something about the culture of childshome and peer group
Cultural knowledge-language, ways ofinteracting with people
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Reciprocal teaching
Another applicationZPD
Designed to improved - reading
comprehension skills to decode words
adequately but had problems in making
overall meaning of the text
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Procedure a teacher and a small group
of two to four students discuss a textpassage in order to determine its meaning
Members of the group flexibly apply four
cognitve strategies :questioning, summarising, clarifying and
predicting and take turns leading to a
discussion
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Stages of Reciprocal teaching
Reading: members of the gorup silently read thepassage
Questioning: the leader asks members of the
group questions about the main idea Summarising: the leader summarises thecontent of the passage in his or her own words
Clarifying: the group members discuss the
points which remain unclear Predicting: the leader asks for prediction of
what will next in the text
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Involve talking about and arguing over the
meaning of the text
Able to observe and be a part of these
disucssions where they practise different
strategies of making meaning; pointing to
relevant words in the paragraph.
asking questions about words and making
connections between the parts of the text
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situated cognition views learning as
engaging in problem solving in the course
of participation in ongoing everyday
activities. It is concerned with learning
withing communities of practice that is
shared purpose and understanding in reallife situations
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Establishing cultural connections between
what teacher and students do inclassrooms what students experience in
the community
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Educational Implications
Set challenging tasks which are slightly
above the level of childrens independent
performance and provide enough support
the enable them to complete the task.
Ensure that your assistance is subtle and
indirect and that it doesnt impose ready-
made knowledge and structures on thechild. Provide indirect guidance and
support.
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Scaffold childrens learning by
demonstrating, questioning, hinting,providing examples, dividing task into
simpler steps, giving guidelines and
assisting childrens self-regulating
learning.
Allow children to take active position in
their learning
Encourage intrinsic motivation
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Listen to children, observe them in
different contexts to better understandtheir interest, abilities and background
knowledge.
Encourage childrens talk while working on
their task by asking them questions or
making them report on the strategies theyemploy to complete the task.
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Keep in close contact with families of
children that you teach; take an interest intheir life style, customs and familyactivities
Make sure you use a variety of authenticactivities and real life problem solving inyour teaching to keep it situated in the
social and cultural context.
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